After council service, Ross moves to Eastie

After serving nearly 15 years as Mission Hill’s popular city councilor, Mike Ross has moved to East Boston

When Ross first won the District 8 City Council seat, which covers a sprawling area of the city, in 1999, he lived in Beacon Hill. In 2006, he moved from that tony neighborhood to Parker Hill Avenue in Mission Hill, earning local admiration. At the time he said he was drawn by Mission Hill’s down-to-earth people and sense of community.

Ross’s council career ended early last year, following his unsuccessful run for mayor, and Beacon Hill’s Josh Zakim is now the District 8 councilor. In November, Ross made the move to Eastie.

The move after eight years of living on the Hill “was somewhat spontaneous,” Ross told the Gazette last week.

“I obviously loved living in Mission Hill. I’m one of the Hill’s strongest proponents. I’ve seen great things happen on the Hill,” he said. “But after completing 14 years of public service, it felt like a good opportunity and a good time to shift gears and focus on what’s next, and that includes where you live.”

Noting the draw of a good food scene and its sense of community, East Boston is “where the puck is headed,” in terms of where people are moving, he said.

“It’s accepting of new residents really well and really harnessing the strengths of residents that where there before,” he said. “And it has a really strong immigrant narrative, which is really important to me.”

Ross has been practicing law full-time for the first time since the election. He also writes occasional columns for the Boston Globe.

He said he likes working as a construction and real estate attorney at Prince Lobel Tye LLP, saying that it’s very similar to what he was doing as a city councilor, just from the other side of the coin.

“Now I’m bringing projects to people…I’m appearing before some of the same neighborhood groups and working on some other things I used to work on,” he said.

That included the first late-night food truck event on the Kennedy Greenway in October, he said.

“This new [Mayor Walsh] administration seems really interested in trying new things,” he said. “And I’m still involved, just from a different angle. I still come and visit. Mission Hill will always be a part of my story.”